Monday, May 23, 2011

The Art of Choice: The Bricked-Up Wall

I've been reflecting on A Paladin in Citadel's post about the use of the portcullis and the brocked-up wall as alternatives to doors.

I love this idea because it fits in nicely with some other mechanics I've been thinking of regarding player choices and providing more of them in my one level sprawling megadungeon.

The bricked-up wall is super cool, because there's the hint of the unknown but also how to deal with it in-game. If you take a sledge to it, that's a guaranteed random monster check in my game, or you could pass it by - and have some beastie break free behind you later on. Ultimately, it comes down to player choice.

In the comments we discussed possibilities for representing the "Bricked-Up Wall". So I present to you the above image represented simply as a B, much like the S of a secret door.

So what do you think of the idea? Have you used similar ideas (tied to random monster rolls) in your campaign?

Of course, now I'm wondering what meaning could be attributed to other letters on a map... "W" could be for window. "M" for magical entry, like an entrance that only presents itself in the presence of a trigger spell command word. "P" for portal, an entrance that is actually a portal to an entirely different location. "I" for illusionary doorway, it's actually just a solid wall, or a pit trap, or a wall of spikes... Isn't "T" already used to denote a trapped entrance? C'mon people, lets see how many letters of the alphabet we can signify! :-)

so Poe! Also typical of catacombs I've been in. I always wonder what's behind those brick alcoves.

Other possibilities: well head (vertical passage down, possibly barred/grated). Chimney (as well head but leads up). Revolving door or teeter-totter. Giant boulder (requires levering out of the way with Archimedian lever made out of an iron spike, a 10 foot pole and some polearms fixed together). Giant barrel (as boulder) or barrel end set in wall (8' tall, could be a door, could have liquid behind it). Dogged or battened hatch, like you might find aboard a submarine. Noisy chain curtain. Paper/parchment screen (for wayang puppet theatre, or for revealing shadow monsters that have no physical form, only shadows). Flies, as found in a theatre. Magician's boxes/water tanks/novelty enclosures such as iron maidens. Walk-in panorama/belvedere/trompe l'oeil room. Musician's gallery over a hall. Mouth of a giant sandworm/Sarlacc/sedentary dragon/pitcher plant. Long, thin cone of passageway that tapers down to nothing, with some shiny object jammed in the end.

About Me

Greg is a boastful, hammer-wielding, red-bearded dwarf who started playing D&D in the early 1980s when hooked by the Red Box. When he's not obsessed with D&D he poses as a sleep-deprived professor of popular culture.